If you can’t do these movements, your body is in danger – 2024-05-12 11:43:10

Mobility is an essential part of the body’s normal functioning. Mobility training reduces muscle stiffness and increases flexibility. It helps prevent injuries in both muscles and tendons.

A well-mobile body also helps in everyday life, such as squatting on the floor to lift things and reaching for things from the top shelf of the cupboard. It also affects health: if mobility is deficient in, for example, the neck-shoulder area, back or hip area, pain and stiffness can also often be felt in them.

Sufficient mobility of the hip joints also helps to control, for example, the position of the lower back when lifting something heavy.

Wellness and exercise coach, founder of Strong Life Rebekka Jaakkola has seen in his work over the years how common mobility problems are. This is not helped by the fact that many of us sit for hours every day at work and then at home.

– For many people, it is difficult for example to get into a squat easily or to raise your arms straight up. The squatting position tells about many things: to get there, the hips, knees and ankles have to work, and to get up you need the muscles of the middle body, legs and buttocks. The squat is a really good movement to measure the mobility of the lower limbs.

If, on the other hand, the hands do not rise straight up towards the ceiling easily, the mobility of the shoulder area and upper back needs to be worked on. Poor range of motion affects many things.

– Everyday chores, such as reaching for the top shelf, can become difficult, and the shoulder area can succumb to permanent stiffness, which in turn can cause, for example, a headache or neck pain. If mobility is not maintained or if you start to improve it, the body often becomes more and more stiff.

Don’t avoid

Lower back problems are also common. According to Jaakkola, this may often be due to the fact that the hip flexors are tight and the musculature in the pelvis and mid-body area is not working as it should. The cycle is complete: if you can’t squat because of stiffness and, for example, lower back pain, it’s natural to try to avoid positions that cause pain.

– Little by little, however, it would be good to go relaxed towards the positions where you feel bad. This teaches the body and brain that the movement is perfectly safe to do. Simply stretching the hip flexors rarely helps, because often both the hip flexors and the gluteal muscles also need to be strengthened.

Mobility is of great importance for functional ability, especially when getting older. Movement restrictions in the shoulder joints can make it difficult, for example, to get dressed.

Restrictions in the movements of the ankle and the hip joint, on the other hand, can affect balance and predispose to falls.

At the end of the story, Jaakkola advises what kind of movements everyone can use to test their own mobility.

According to Jaakkola, if you can’t do the movements or you feel tension and stiffness while doing them, it means that the mobility could be improved. Everyone can improve their own situation.

– If you can’t use the trunk versatile in every direction, that’s a good indicator that it’s good to get more movement in the trunk. There is still no need to get into all positions and everyone does not have to bend to different extreme positions. If lack of mobility affects your daily activities and coping, it would be good to do something about it.

Better than stretching

According to Jaakkola, people often think that mobility training and stretching are one and the same thing. In stretching, you often passively stand still and stretch a target muscle, while mobility training involves active muscle work and movement. It develops muscle strength.

Dynamic mobility training is also natural for the body instead of passive stretching, Jaakkola points out.

– Versatile mobility training develops different areas so much that it increases functional capacity much better than just stretching.

Jaakkola has often heard that mobility training is also often thought to be boring and monotonous increasing the stretch.

– On the contrary, even mobility training can really feel like a workout. Often, the movements are ones that gently challenge yourself to go into the discomfort zone.

In order to get results, many also think that mobility training should be long-term goal-oriented training.

-If you do longer mobility exercises four times a week, you will definitely get results, but who can do it for the rest of their life?

That’s why, in Jaakkola’s opinion, it would be good to turn the thinking in the direction that instead of completing a certain amount per week, you’d rather do something every day.

– People still don’t really internalize this, that it’s not terribly demanding. The benefits of exercise come in small chunks.

– You can think in the direction that as long as I move versatilely, something good will inevitably happen. It can be bouncing from one stone to another on a forest run, jumping over a tree trunk on the path or even climbing over a fence. The entire musculature is involved, the body’s balance and coordination improve.

According to Jaakkola, the best way to maintain and improve mobility is to move around in a variety of ways throughout the day, even just for a minute at a time while sitting.

– For example, getting up from the workstation or sofa and squatting five times. If you sit for many hours every day, it inevitably affects the whole body. That’s why it’s worth staying active.

Can anyone succeed?

Will anyone succeed in improving their mobility?

In addition to immobility, mobility is affected by many other things such as body structure, shape, size and, of course, age.

Also, for example, various injuries can make it difficult to do exercises. However, with their own activities, everyone can make a big difference in improving mobility, says Jaakkola.

It’s also never too late to start mobility exercises. Jaakkola started to improve his own mobility when he was over 40 years old.

– My own problems focused on the neck-shoulder area and lower back. However, I didn’t know what to do about it. I started doing crossfit and that started both the recovery of the body and the understanding of how important movement is. Through my own training, I have been able to do somersaults and whatever in my childhood.

Sports that increase mobility include, for example, parkour, climbing, weight lifting, dancing, yoga and muscle fitness training with a wide range of motion.

Mobility is also useful in many sports.

– When the joints are mobile and the spine is flexible in many directions, it helps in many ways. For example, in weight lifting, force production requires flexibility from the muscles and mobility from the joints. Mobility is equally important, for example, when running.

This is how you can test your own mobility:

1. Shoulder, upper back and shoulder mobility test

Do like this:

If you are unable to move or feel tight, this is how you can improve your mobility:

1. Rolling

2. Hip flexor mobility test

3. Deep squat: Mobility test of the lower back, hips, knees and ankles

If you can’t move or feel tight, you can improve your mobility like this:

1. Windmill

4. Ranga mobility test